


Stars Fall, As Do We

by Rednaelo



Series: Kingdom Hearts: Love Letter [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Fluff, I gave Kairi a personality, Kissing, M/M, Multi, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 11:24:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17848535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rednaelo/pseuds/Rednaelo
Summary: Kairi takes a deep breath and thinks about Riku sneaking out of his house at night to throw pebbles at her window and then sleeping propped up in the corner of her room.  Out of the way, uncomfortable, as small as he can make himself in her space.  And she thinks about Sora, who doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing with himself half the time, chasing Riku or chasing her.  How all he seems to want is to not be forgotten by them while they dream big.





	Stars Fall, As Do We

**Author's Note:**

> I wish I were sorry, but honestly I'm not. I'm thrilled. I'm just happy to be here.
> 
> -Bec

The sloop used to belong to Riku’s father.  Technically it still does, but from what Kairi managed to get out of Riku, his father hasn’t touched the boat in years.

“It’s ours now,” he had insisted as he took a paint scraper to the peeling letters of ‘The Madame’ and began scouring them off with the sort of vindication that would suit a judge sentencing a criminal to death.  “Don’t worry about it.”

So Kairi hadn’t worried about it. 

Refurbishing is still ongoing for their boat – The Highwind, Riku renamed it – but it’s seaworthy enough for Kairi to sit on its deck and spread out the maps.  Navigating is…well, it’s completely new to her.  First thing after they returned from deciding on their summer plans, Kairi went right to the school’s library and dug up all the books she could find on the subject.  That and maps of the local territories, looking up possible islands for them to venture to. 

Riku has sailing knowledge and he’s already conscripted Sora to help him with most of the manual labor.  Kairi volunteered to chart their course.  Not that she didn’t want to jump into the mechanics of making a boat obey the will of her hands (though the prospect of hauling lines and whatnot sounds a little less than exciting). But hunching over naval maps with a compass in one hand and sextant in the other just sounded more fun.

The boys are trusting her with their path.  She just has to point them in the direction and they’ll take her wherever she wills.  Now _that_ sounds like a delightful summer vacation.

Kairi smiles as she draws up the seasonal star charts and picks out familiar constellations for the zillionth time.  She’s learned all of the ones that they’ll see while they’re voyaging and can’t wait to show them to Sora and Riku as they sail under the stars. 

There’s a lot more planning to do, too.  Kairi has repurposed her old Physics notebook into a log for her to keep track of everything from maintenance to supply inventory and checklists of things they want to do together.  Top of the list for remaining boat repairs is _New Sails!!_ which has been underlined three times.  In the margins next to it, Riku’s cramped script reads, _canvas on hand – just needs sewing_.

Judging by the way that Kairi’s had the boat all to herself this afternoon, she’s pretty positive that Riku’s sewing up the sails at this very moment. They need spare lines, though, because it won’t do for some unforeseen accident to happen and just send them adrift.  A motor probably wouldn’t hurt, either, just in case.  But Kairi’s hard-pressed to figure out where they could get one. 

She’ll have to think on it….

The very familiar sound of footsteps running down the dock, fast approaching, has Kairi lifting her head up just in time to see Sora jump off the dock and right onto the boat.

“Made it!” he claims triumphantly and folds himself to sit cross-legged beside her.  “What’s going on today?”  He sits there, out of breath, but his eyes are full of adventure awaiting and Kairi’s pretty sure she could tell him to run laps around the island for added preparation and he’d still bounce to his feet and do it.

“Not much,” she says, chuckling before turning over a new page in her notebook.  “You seen Riku?”

“I mean, I was thinking he’d be here,” Sora says and pulls his backpack into his lap to unzip it.  “He’s been cutting class all this week to work on the boat, did you know that?”

“Yeah,” Kairi frowns.  She puts her pencil to paper and starts writing out a list.  “I told him to knock it off since it’s not like the boat’s going anywhere.  But I’m pretty sure he stopped caring about finals from the moment he pulled the boat into the marina.”

“He’s just excited,” Sora reasons.  Kairi blinks because a paper bag has been pushed under her nose and the bag has her name scrawled on it, flanked by scribbled stars and little hearts. “Here, got this for you,” Sora says and Kairi puts down her pencil to accept it.

“Oh,” she says, curious and surprised.  Sora giggles sheepishly and his fingers pull at the zippers of his backpack while Kairi opens up the gift.  Inside is a sandwich wrapped in plastic and a bottle of sugar-spice tea.  “Thanks,” Kairi says, grinning at him.  Sora’s cheeks curve up and make his eyes squint when he smiles back.  “I didn’t realize how hungry I was until just now.”

“You’re welcome!” Sora says.  “Riku’s so into this boat that he’s skipping school and _you’re_ so into it that you’re skipping lunch.”

“It’s not like I’m forgetting to feed myself,” Kairi says as she peels off the plastic wrap.  It’s a cucumber sandwich with the crusts cut off.  “Oh my god, I haven’t had one of these in so long.  Did your mom make it?”

“Well it’s her recipe, but I’m the one who made it,” Sora says.  “Figured it’d be easy enough; I’ve helped her do it a ton of times.  I do a good job?”

The bread is exquisitely soft and Kairi’s teeth sink into it with such satisfaction before she bites off a mouthful of crisp cucumber.  The spread surrounding it is creamy and salty and perfect: the flavor that Kairi always finds herself craving on rainy Sunday afternoons.

“Tastes just like I like it,” she says with proud approval to Sora. 

“Yes!” Sora pumps his fist in triumph.  “I have a ton more to learn.  But I’ve been trying to teach myself all our favorite recipes.”

“Yeah?” Kairi asks, a little muffled with the sandwich stuffed halfway in mouth while she opens the bottle of tea.

“Mom says that I’m at the age where I shouldn’t just be waiting around for her to feed me all the time,” Sora says, rolling his eyes a little.  “So I’ve been learning how to cook the things I like.  But I was thinking the other day when I was sparring with Riku that I should learn how to make _you_ guys’ favorite foods too.”

“Trying to be the favorite, huh?” Kairi says with her cheek full of cucumber.

“What?” Sora says, genuinely confused.  “No, I just want to make you guys happy.”

Kairi’s heart turns molten in her chest and spills all warm into her stomach.   She stretches out her arm and Sora glances at it, a little baffled, before he understands to scooch in close and let her hug him from the side. 

“Sora, don’t ever change,” she murmurs with her forehead against his temple. 

For a moment Sora’s quiet.  Then he gives a long, thoughtful hum, his head nuzzling up against Kairi’s and says,

“Well, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to become stronger than Riku but I can do my best to keep everything else the same.”

Kairi turns away so she doesn’t snort right into Sora’s ear, but her hand clutches his wrist because she didn’t actually want to let him go.

“Then I wish you the best of luck,” she says.  “You know he does pushups before he goes to bed every night.”

“I know!” Sora laments.  “Kairi, I don’t want to do pushups every night, I just want to go to sleep.”

“You don’t need to be stronger than him, you know,” she reminds him.

“Don’t _need_ to be but I’d _like_ to be.”

“Why? Why does it matter?”

“I dunno,” Sora says, shrugging up one shoulder and then sulking immediately afterwards.  “It just feels like it’s important.”

Kairi hmphs at that and drinks more of her tea.  Riku and Sora have been competing with one another since the day she met them and probably even before.  And Kairi’s had to compete with the competition just to make sure they don’t leave her in the dust trying to one-up one another.

They’ve gotten better at listening now that they’re older.  Though it seems like some things are tough to change.

“You don’t need to be stronger than Riku,” Kairi tells Sora.  She glances out towards the afternoon horizon and watches the places where the sea sparkles, the waves like mirror-shards in their sharp silver light amongst the blue.  “Riku doesn’t need to be stronger than you either. You’re both fine the way you are.”

“Easy for Riku, he’s already stronger than me.”

Kari scowls and raps her knuckles against Sora’s skull a few times.

“Ow, ow!”

“It doesn’t matter!” she says emphatically.  “It’s a hundred times more important that you’re just _happy_. Okay?”  Kairi takes a deep breath and thinks about Riku sneaking out of his house at night to throw pebbles at her window and then sleeping propped up in the corner of her room.  Out of the way, uncomfortable, as small as he can make himself in her space.  And she thinks about Sora, who doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing with himself half the time, chasing Riku or chasing her.  How all he seems to want is to not be forgotten by them while they dream big.

“Just be happy,” Kairi repeats.

“Well, you know…,” Sora says softly, ducking down so he can get right in her line of sight. 

“What?” Kairi says.  So maybe she’s pouting a little….

“I am happy,” Sora tells her.  “Every day, with you.  You and Riku.”

Kairi holds her arms out and Sora falls right into them, laughing.  She kisses his stupid, smiling face a couple times because he makes her so happy, too.  She needs him to shine brightly forever.

“Here,” Kairi says, tearing out the notebook page she was writing on and holding it out to Sora.  “This is some stuff that we still need for the trip.  Would you mind looking around and seeing if you can scrounge it up?”

“Sure thing,” Sora says.  He scans the list quickly then folds it and puts it in his pocket, hoisting his backpack onto his shoulders.  “I already know where I can find a lot of this stuff so I’ll go ahead and get it now, okay?”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Kairi says.  She smiles up at Sora and he looks down at her a moment, considering.  Then he leans over, hands clutching the straps of his backpack, and kisses her lips.  She might’ve expected it.  And maybe she did; rather than startle, Kairi just kisses him back and lingers on the sight of his long, dark eyelashes, his eyes closed so gently. 

“See ya,” Sora giggles in another smooch against Kairi’s cheek. Then he turns and hops off the boat and runs all the way back down the dock.

Kairi snorts at his retreating form and turns back to her notebook.

“Well, bye then, pfff,” she mutters to herself.

They’ve made kissing a habit now.  A habit that’s thrilling and different and….  Well, every time it happens, Kairi’s heart beats so hard – for Sora _and_ Riku and their kisses.  And then she inevitably gets this moment afterwards where she sits by herself and thinks about it.  There’s a loop that replays and it’s repeated so much that Kairi goes through it rapidfire by this point: she always wanted to kiss them, she has kissed them, they’re still kissing, it feels good, and when it’s over, she feels something’s amiss.

And it doesn’t even make any sense, either.  Because….  Because, well, she _wants_ it, right?  Riku and Sora are her best friends and she loves them more than everyone else she knows.  They’re going to be family together, the three of them; she’s already decided this.  Hugging them, cuddling with them, holding hands is so nice.  Kissing them feels _really_ nice but when it’s over and she’s smiling while they smile at her there’s something _wrong_. Something unfinished, a weird pit inside of Kairi’s stomach.

She’s not quite sure what to do about it. And she doesn’t know who to ask.  It’s not like she can just go up to Gramma and be like, “Why do I feel weird about kissing the boys I love?”  She’d probably get the sort of lecture that would be the opposite of helpful.

Kairi sighs and gathers up her maps and her star charts and the food Sora brought her and packs it all away in her satchel.  They’ve still got another two weeks before the end of school.  Riku wants to set sail as soon as classes are over and though Kairi’s been trying to get him to give them at least one night before they go, she’s got a feeling his recent restlessness won’t work in her favor. Still, she’s got plenty of time to finish charting their course.

Kairi hops off the boat and makes her way down the dock, thinking that at least they can just sail home if things ever get rough along the way.  Ultimately, the thought eases every tension that’s been winding tight inside her.

 

* * *

 

She’s got the island to herself this evening, which is perfect because Kairi would much rather do this task on her own.  She wants to make something sacred out of it.  Thalassa shells aren’t exactly easy to come by and scouring the shoreline for the amount she needs wouldn’t yield enough in time.  She’s got to dive for them.

It takes a few hours, Kairi slipping under the water with her goggles on, sifting through the sands while her feet keep rising towards the surface.  The waves roll over her.  Gradually, the light she emerges into turns from blue to orange to purple.  The basket at the end of the dock is full of Thalassa shells, more than she probably needs.  Kairi hoists herself up onto the dock and takes some deep breaths as she pulls her goggles down around her neck and starts counting her prizes.  Better to have more, she reasons.  Just in case.

Kairi pads gently back over to the shack where she left the rest of her things, basket tucked in the crook of her arm.  She changes quickly, careful to make sure her sandy feet don’t dust off in her clothes.  Her outfit is loose and breezy: her oldest, softest sweater and the flowy white wraparound skirt that she ties with a big bow at her hip.  Her hair is wavy, sticky with saltwater and dripping down her neck to wet the collar of her shirt.

She sings to herself as she wanders up the stairs and crosses the bridge.  The clouds are pink as strawberry cream, billowing into deep, dark blues towards the emerging stars.  Kairi looks out at the sea and her heart skips, wild, wanting to go right back into its cool, rocking waves.  She’ll be laying in her bed tonight and still feeling the water push and pull and play with her while she falls asleep.

Falling in love with the sea was so easy.  She was just old enough to remember standing on the shores of her new home, looking out at the water’s shine and wanting to see what the endless blue would give her if she reached for it.  Kairi makes herself comfortable, sitting at the base of the paopu tree, and takes the first shell in her hand, the music of the waves murmuring sweetly to her.

The trip for this summer started as Riku’s impulse to just get away from everything they knew for as long as they could.  And Kairi gets it.  Riku’s home….  Riku’s dad….  She’d probably want to run away as much as possible, too, if she could.  They’re just old enough now where the adults aren’t keeping hawk-eyed watchfulness on them.  So it’s their first chance to really do something on their own.

At the same time, the trip has opened up Kairi’s dreams to what her future might be. Before, it had all been her childhood whims of wanting to grow up to be a ballerina or a stage magician.  Now she sits making Thalassa charms and thinking about how, if this turns out to be as much fun as she thinks it could be, maybe she should start thinking about maritime navigation as something to grow towards. 

In a sudden whip of wind, a breeze from the coast gusts over Kairi and she laughs when seawater splashes from the drips of her hair against her cheeks.

“Cold,” she mumbles to herself, smiling as she wipes her face dry.

The old, familiar sound of the shack door banging shut has Kairi craning her neck to see who she suddenly has for company. 

“Hey, Riku,” she says when he gets close enough to hear her over the waves.

“Hey,” he says back, vaulting up onto the paopu tree and sitting behind her.  His knees knock against either of her shoulders. “What are you doing here so late?”

“You first,” Kairi says with a smirk as she turns back to the shell in her hands.  Her needle makes tiny punctures and she carefully sands them wider with the little circular file.  “I thought I was the only one out here.”

“Well, probably on this side,” Riku says.  “I was on the other half of the island, putting the sails up on The Highwind.”

“You finished sewing them?”

“Mmhmm. This morning.  Far as the sails are concerned, she’s ready to go.”

“But we need a ton of other things first,” Kairi reminds him.  Not because she thinks Riku actually forgot but because he’s been so damn single-minded lately….  Well _someone_ has to keep him focused and Sora’s definitely not cut out for that.

“Hey….”

Before Kairi can respond, Riku’s fingers are under her chin, lifting it up.  He’s ducked to the side and drawn in close, his eyes bright and fixated and that’s the last glimpse she gets before he’s kissing her, soundly.  The position’s a little awkward to hold so the kiss doesn’t last for more than a few seconds.  Then she’s pulling back and laughing under her breath for lack of knowing how else to respond.  Riku grins at her and then he notices what she’s holding.

“You’re making Wayfinders,” he says.

“Yep, that’s right,” Kairi agrees and she reaches over to pat her basket full of shells, ignoring the damned swirling pit in her stomach and trying to delight in scorch in her cheeks.  “Just spent the last few hours finding all these.”

“No wonder your head’s all wet and you’re wearing your beach-nap clothes,” Riku says, ruffling his fingers through her sea-salty hair.  “You singing, too?”

“Singing what?” Kairi asks with a snort.

Riku retreats from Kairi, only obvious in that unseen but instantly sensed way.  His breathing softens to silence and Kairi knows that his smile has faded.  He pulls from her space and leaves the beach breezes surrounding her.  In Kairi’s periphery, she watches him find the skyline and lose himself there, like it’s easier to be far away rather than in this conversation.  Kairi waits for him to come back to her, though she has a feeling she knows why he left.

“There’s a song,” Riku says.  “You sing it while you make the Wayfinders.  That’s what makes them good luck.”

“Oh,” Kairi says.  “I didn’t know that.”

“I can teach it to you,” Riku offers.  “My mom taught it to me.”

Yeah, that was her guess.  Last time Riku brought up his mother, it was in the close and safe darkness of her bedroom, with words that were sharp and cold.  Like if he didn’t speak them with bitterness then maybe the memories Riku spoke aloud would turn back on him and hurt him again.

Kairi swallows down nothing.  Then takes a deep breath and knocks her knuckles against his knee. 

“How about you just come sit next to me and sing it yourself while I do this?” she says, giving him a smile over her shoulder.  “Sing it enough, I’ll pick it up before long.”

It’s a full minute of silence – the silence of the sea, ever moving, and the wind touching her skin softly – before Kairi rolls her eyes and elbows Riku’s shin.

“Come on,” she encourages him. “Help me. Please?”

Riku slides off the tree and sits beside her and Kairi very deliberately doesn’t look at him at all, completely focused on the work of her own hands.  It’s still a minute longer before Riku clears his throat and begins to mumble out the first words of this song.

It’s….  It’s not in a language that she recognizes in the slightest.  Kairi stills a moment to try and parse the words but there’s nothing there that she can translate.  As the song goes on, Riku gains volume, breathes more deeply into each verse, and the language fades for Kairi as she lets the melody itself speak to her.  Mournful….  Soothing, at the same time….   The song – its wishes unknown but keenly _felt_ – compels Kairi’s hands to her work.   

Riku could’ve decided just to keep it to himself he decided to share this with Kairi, while she prays for their voyage to lead them safely out into the world and back again. Together, the goodwill and fortune of the Wayfinder comes to be. 

When her work is finished, Riku ends the song and then leans over to look at what Kairi’s accomplished.

“Looks good,” he says.  Then turns his head and clears his throat again.

“I think we did a good job,” Kairi agrees.  She hands the Wayfinder over to Riku so he can take a better look.  “This one should be Sora’s.  Since we made it together.  And then you and him can make one for me.  And me and Sora will make one for you.”

Riku grins and gives a soft huff of laughter before offering the charm back to Kairi.

“Think you better handle the singing, then,” he says.

“Sora can sing perfectly fine,” Kairi challenges. “Though I’m sure if you sang in front of him, he’d start practicing to try and be better than you.”

That gets a laugh out of him.

“He gets so worked up about beating me,” Riku chuckles.  “Dunno if I should feel flattered or afraid.”

“Maybe both?” Kairi suggests.

“You should’ve seen him the other day,” Riku goes on to say.  “I challenged him to a race and I told him whoever won go to share a paopu fruit with you.” A coldness seeps into Kairi’s stomach; the corners of her smile begin to fail.  “And when I won,” Riku continues, still grinning, “he got all freaked out and then stomped off in a huff when I said I was just joking.”

Kairi looks down at the Wayfinder charm and rubs her thumb along the outline of one of its points.

“Don’t you think that was a little mean?” she asks. 

“Huh?”

“To both of us,” Kairi says and looks up at Riku, staring him right in the eyes.  “You know he takes everything you say seriously.  And what the hell were you thinking; you just turned me into some trophy to win?”    

“But you’re such a prize, Kairi,” Riku says, flashing her a wide smirk.  Kairi rolls her eyes and shoves at Riku.  Not that it does her any good because he just catches her wrists and holds her off. 

“God, Riku, you’re so dumb,” Kairi says, struggling to pull free of him while he just watches her and laughs.

“I’m the smartest boy you know,” Riku challenges.  He tugs her wrist towards himself and kisses her curled up knuckles as sweet as can be.  His smile hides behind her fist and Kairi sighs at him.

“It’s always a competition with the two of you,” she says, feeling like she’s had this conversation too many times already.  She doesn’t really care to have it again but something tells her this isn’t going to be the last occasion when the topic arises.  “It’s dumb.  But I’d rather be competing with you than just something the two of you are fighting over, if I had to choose.”

“Kai, seriously, it was just a joke,” Riku says.  He squeezes her hand and rubs a gloved finger over the back of her knuckles, right where he kissed her.  “Don’t take it to heart.”

Kairi blows a razzberry at him and takes her hand back, effectively ending that discussion.   She doesn’t want any more of it now; it’s stewing in her stomach all sickly sweet like she ate too much ice cream too quickly.  Dwelling on it is just making her edge towards nauseous.

“It’s getting dark,” she says as she gathers her things in her lap.  “We should head back home.  You wanna come over for dinner?  Gramma’s making stout beef stew.”  Kairi glances out towards the docks, spotting a distant figure.  “Oh, hey, there’s Sora,” she says.  And then her gaze pulls to the horizon, drawn like a wayward moth straight into a tongue of fire.

It’s not that the sun has set and given way to the many familiar stars.  The sky has darkened like ink has been spilled into the vastness of space.  Clouds as deep and swollen as fresh bruises have overtaken every visible inch of the sky above them.  Lightning forks in neon violet tendrils; thunder shakes the earth and water alike.

“Kairi,” Riku says reaching to catch her elbow as she moves into a crouch, “go get Sora.  Go quick.”

“Yeah, we gotta get inside,” Kairi agrees and picks up her basket.

“No,” Riku says.

“What?” Kairi’s brow furrows.  Beneath the growls of the thunder and the flight responses rising, the refusal didn’t catch.

“This is different,” Riku tells her.  He’s…reverent? Intrigued? He stands slowly, pulling her up with him, and stares straight above them.  The clouds are funneling in, twisting and twisting and amassing into something meteorological phenomenon that Kairi hasn’t even seen in movies.

“Riku, come on!” she urges, grabbing him in return and tugging on his arm.  He won’t look at her.  “This is dangerous, we have to—!”

The winds lash against her cruelly and send the basket flying from her arms, only the single Wayfinder clutched in her grip stays. 

“Ah!” Kairi holds tighter to Riku and he pulls her straight to his side, immovable in the wake of the gales. Kairi clutches the charm to her chest and finds Riku as far removed from the reality of the situation as he could possible be, lost in his reverie.  Kairi’s had nightmares that included trying to make him run from danger when he won’t do anything but stand and take it.  “Riku!” she yells at him over the howling storm.

“Riku!” Sora cries behind them and Kairi breaks away from Riku to run to him.  “Kairi! We have to get out of here!”

“I know, I know!  Riku!”

“The door is open,” Riku says.  Kairi stares at his back, at the sky as black as void, a maw of unknown open like a portal straight into hell.

“What?!” Sora yells at him, incredulous. Kairi’s heart is a flutter of absolute panic but she doesn’t know how to move herself.  Or save any of them.

“This is it!” Riku says and turns around to beam eagerly at both of them.  His eyes are _wrong_ , gleaming sharp in the enfolding darkness.  “We can leave, we can put all of this behind us and never have to return.”

“What are you talking about?!” Sora continues to find breath to draw and questions to ask.  One of his hands takes Kairi’s and holds tight.  She presses the Wayfinder to her chest like it can meld with her bones if she holds it dearly enough, watching Riku’s wild and glowing eyes. 

“Don’t be afraid,” Riku says and he stares straight into Kairi’s heart and _sees_.  “I’m not.  I’ll be with you; we’ll go together, all of us.”

He stretches out both his hands, inviting them to join him like he’s held his arms open and welcomed them to his embrace all those times before.  Kairi wants to scream at him.  Tears well up in her eyes instead along with a despairing terror. 

The sphere of clouds above them has resolved into a giant, swirling mass of black, ever-widening.  Kairi looks up at it and her breath comes short. They’ll die.  Whatever that thing is, it’s going to kill them.  Where can they _run_?

Sora’s gasp has Kairi seeking Riku again.  Beneath him, a steadily expanding nothingness has opened, blocking out every color and leaving naught but shadows where it grows.  And tendrils of this dark are slowly snaking up Riku’s body, though he smiles as confidently as ever, still reaching out.  Kairi whimpers once and takes a fearful step forward – Sora going right along with her – to save her friend.  To pull him back from what he’s decided to blindly surrender to.

They have to save him.  He doesn’t even see that he needs it.

Something bashes Kairi across the spine and the moment she buckles, Sora trips forward and she loses her grip on his hand.  It hurts.  It hurts and the edges of her vision are bleeding black, nothing but the sand beneath her clammy palms.  And the Wayfinder, fallen to the ground before her. 

When she raises her head, she can’t see them, Sora and Riku both lost in the thrashing tangles of darkness that have risen like thorns to choke them from the world. 

“No!” Kairi sobs.  She cannot stand.  She can’t even drag herself to them.  Her hand reaches to the place where they were and then everything is gone.

 

* * *

 

Dying is bitter cold. But in her last waking moment, Kairi is immersed in a warm, deep darkness that washes over her like the sea.

**Author's Note:**

> btw if you made it this far, know this:  
> from here on out canon means nothing. forget all you know. forget all the rules.  this narrative is _mine_ now.
> 
> come bug me on my [tumblr ](https://rednaelo.tumblr.com)if you like.


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